Official says government gives special attention to Halal food sector

The government is giving special attention to the Halal food sector which has ability to give a quantum jump to the national exports. Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security & Research Muhammad Abid Javed stated this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. He said the Rice Research Institute is continuously working in to introduce new varieties and recently two new varieties have been introduced that would help enhance rice exports.
There is a high demand for Pakistani basmati rice in the global market, he said and added that import of tomato from India has been stopped as country has enough production to meet the domestic demand, he said. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Abdul Basit said that despite the agrarian economy, the country could not be able to draw the potential benefits of this sector. It is a matter of concern that during fiscal year of 2015-2016, the performance of agriculture sector as a whole remained dismal, he added. He said that unlike other sectors of economy, the agriculture sector witnessed a negative growth of 0.19 percent against 2.53 percent growth of previous year. The growth of crops also declined by 6.25 percent, while the other sub component of agriculture sector like livestock, forestry and fishing posted positive growth of 3.63 percent, 8.84 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively, he added. He urged the Ministry of National Food Security to play its role in motivating the farmers for adopting mechanised farming system.
Since there are number of research institutions working under the control of the ministry, so, it is suggested that they should take this responsibility to highlight the benefits of adopting new ways and technologies to increase the existing low level of agri yield, he added.
Former LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik said that the total size of Halal market in the global trade is around US $3 trillion and Pakistan has insignificant share in it. We have a natural base for producing Halal products and this unique characteristic should be aggressively marketed to earn appropriate share. In addition to five export sectors which have been declared zero-rated, the food sector should also be awarded the same status, he suggested. This step will encourage the exports of agri-produce and eventually our farmers will be able to fetch better prices, he maintained.
Malik said that it is the age of hybrid technology and every sector of economy is focusing on it. For agriculture sector, the hybrid seeds are mostly imported from other countries. We are of the view that maximum facilities and incentives should be given to local hybrid seed producers so that they could be able to contribute more. Likewise, the government should encourage them to expand their production capacity to be able to export hybrid seeds. These efforts will also play important role in giving boost to agri-produce and job creation, he said. Malik said that all seed materials are tested by federal agency throughout Pakistan; therefore, the same institution should be made responsible for issuance of legal documents. This would make it easy to market these seeds throughout the country as private sector experienced great hurdles by the provincial agriculture regulatory bodies in this connection, he said.